The Call (No Need to Say Goodbye)
by maggie.mitchell.7543
Summary: Natsu has to go off to war. Lucy doesn't realize there's a reason to say goodbye. She thinks he'll come back safe and sound and everything will be as it was before. One shot. Songfic. AU. Character death. This is my first try at a tragedy.


**This was originally written with lyrics from ****The Call by Regina Spektor, but I had to remove them so I recommend you listen to it at some point around the reading of this.**

I stood and watched them, him. All the men were called to war. Even if they were barley eighteen like my boyfriend was, they all had to go. They all had to fight. Today was the day they left.

Natsu walked forward and pecked my lips. I tried to memorize the feeling of his lips against mine so I could cling to it while he was gone. He held my cheek in his warm, rough hand. "I'll be back soon, Luce. I love you, don't forget. Don't worry, I'll be back," he whispered to me.

I nodded, "I love you too, Natsu. Come back to me safely." I didn't want to say goodbye. Saying goodbye means leaving. I don't want to say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.

He stepped back and returned with the other men leaving their love ones. Natsu stood with Gray, Elfman, Gajeel, Fried, Laxus and even Jet, Droy and Wakaba. He marched off with them, not looking back, it was better that way. I saw my vision blur. A tear trickled down my cheek. How could I not worry? He was going off to war. It was going to be so different and hard without him with me.

There was something like this before, when I almost lost him. An old friend came back, he thought she was dead. I thought he was going to leave me, replace me.

At least he had the others with him. I hoped all of them would come home safely.

* * *

They're back. They're all bedraggled and tired, but their back. It's been almost two years. I scanned for the familiar head of pink, spiky hair…and didn't see it. Where's Natsu? Where's my Natsu! "Where's Natsu?" I called out. No one responded, but they looked sad. Oh, no. They walked right past me and deposited something wrapped up in my house. I walked over to it and pulled the fabric away from the face. "How long?" I asked.

"He was the last causality, so about two days," Gray informed me. I nodded and he and Elfman left the room. I looked at his face. His dark eyes were closed. His face paler than normal. I moved the sheet away from his chest and saw the wound. It was cleaned, but I could see the clear bullet hole right through his chest. I choked back a sob.

I'll never forget him. No one will ever understand my loss. How could such a bright, excited, young man just be gone? My vision blurred the same way it did the day he left. Tears dripped down my face. Soon the small trickle became a waterfall. My tears dripped onto him. My chest hurt. It hurt so bad. I screamed. "You said you'd be back! You said you'd come back safely and not to worry!" I whispered lyrics from a song to his dead body, "You'll come back when it's over. No need to say goodbye. You'll come back when it's over. No need to say goodbye." I whimpered. "Natsu…I miss you, come back to me. Please." I placed my head on his chest. I ran my fingers through his tousled pink hair. Salty wetness soaked the sheet and his black vest.

I remembered him. His goofy smile. The light in his black eyes. The way he ate food crazily. How he'd wrap his arms around me. How he'd comfort me when I was sad. How he loved fire so much. How he took us to get tattoos, his, a red marking on his right shoulder and me the same marking only in pink and on the back of my left hand. His kisses, his touches. The day we met. The adventures we went on. The day we confessed. All his fights with Gray. I remembered. My fingers brushed his silky white scarf still wrapped around his neck. I gently unwrapped it and wound it around my own neck.

I didn't think there was a need to say goodbye. I didn't think we would be saying goodbye for a long time. I thought he'd come back to me when I called to him. I wanted him back. I thought, I thought, but something so different happened. "Natsu," I whispered. "Come back to me, Natsu." I knew that they'd put his body in the ground. That he'd be gone. That I'd never see him again.

A hand was placed on my shoulder, "I'm really sorry, Lucy." It was Gray's voice.

I didn't look up, but responded, "Thank you for bringing him back." My voice was hoarse from my screaming and crying.

"It's time to bury him." I nodded on Natsu's chest.

* * *

It had started raining. I stood alone before a fresh mound of soil. My hair stuck to my head and my black dress clung to my body. I was soaked all the way through, but I didn't care. Salty tears mixed with rain water on my cheeks. All the others had left hours ago. I needed to go too. I just couldn't pull myself away, though. My heart hurt. I wished I had said goodbye. I shivered. It hurt, oh it hurt so much. "I love you. I'll always remember," I told nobody. It was to Natsu, but nobody was there to hear. Natsu was gone. I sighed and placed flame colored tiger lilies on the grave next to the gravestone. It read something like, "War hero. Natsu Dragneel." Very simple and plain. I think he would have preferred to have been cremated, being the pyromaniac he was, but it all happened too quickly. He would always be my Natsu. I turned and walked away, still miserable, but knowing he'd want me to at least go home and be warm. Maybe eventually get on with my life. I felt like I was leaving part of myself by that grave, the part of me that would never leave Natsu's side. That part of me watched me leave. Not turning back I whispered one last word, "Goodbye."

**I hope you found it worth reading. If you did, please, please, please review and favorite. If you didn't please review anyway with constructive criticism so I can improve my writing. Thanks.**

** Where Lucy says, "I don't want to say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting," that is almost an exact quote from Peter Pan if you recognized it. Fairy Tail and it's characters are owned by Hiro Mashima. I don't own anything but the plot.**

**~Maggie**


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